Esper Control is about controlling the board and slamming sweet planeswalkers.
While hiding in the corners last year, Esper Control had a dominant showing at PT Battle for Zendikar as a number of pros dropped the idea of slamming dragons and picked up slamming Jaces, Gideons, and Ob Nix-daddys.
Those are some of the higher placing lists from the PT.
I'll let you guys discuss the cards and the reasoning behind them.
Keep in mind, if you want to talk about Esper Dragons, you can do so here. The decks in this thread are distinguished by their lack of Dragonlord Ojutai and Silumgar's Scorn in the maindeck.
This thread is for Esper Control. You can discuss below.
Honestly I question whether or not Fabrizio Anteri and Chapin's list should be classified as "Esper Control". To me, those deck lists are reminiscent of super-friends (Especially Anteri's list).
I do like Anteri's list though.
Honestly I question whether or not Fabrizio Anteri and Chapin's list should be classified as "Esper Control". To me, those deck lists are reminiscent of super-friends (Especially Anteri's list).
I do like Anteri's list though.
Not all control decks are "draw-go". Tap-out walkers lists are getting classified as control for the sake of broad discussion. We need a thread to house these decks (there were enough that did well at the PT to warrant it in Est.) so this is it.
It's interesting to see the spread on Gideon running from 0 right the way up to the full set.
I feel like Reid's list doesn't have enough win conditions to end a game before getting ground out by various resilient threats like Hangarback Walker and Deathmist Raptor.
Card advantage is so readily available to every color these days that you need to be able to present a faster clock than turn 8 Ugin, shoot you for 3 7 turns in a row. Reid's only other ways to win a game are a pair of Arashin Cleric and a single Shambling Vent. You cannot rely on being able to have substantially more resources than every opponent.
I also like the idea of going a bit more heavily into planeswalkers these days. With Hero's Downfall gone and people being slow/reluctant to play Ruinous Path planeswalkers are the best they've been in years.
I'm looking to bring an Esper list to a PTQ this weekend. Tons of Jeskai Black in my meta. I'm an old Abzan control player converting to Esper. Any thoughts on what I need in the deck to keep them down?
I'm looking to bring an Esper list to a PTQ this weekend. Tons of Jeskai Black in my meta. I'm an old Abzan control player converting to Esper. Any thoughts on what I need in the deck to keep them down?
Adrian Sullivan's deck was featured on the deck tech section of Friday's PT coverage, and can be found on Youtube, although they didn't cover the sideboard. I think that the control shell is interesting (the only white part is Utter End, and only 3 counter spells), and could be tweaked to run other types of control/win-cons in place of the Disperse/Pact engine. I'm thinking of running something similar with an Ulamog or two and maybe a pair of Windrider Patrol at the top end, adding some more Shambling Vents as well, and maybe some other counter spells.
I usually don't play Standard, but we've been struggling to fire Legacy and I happen to have most of the deck already (bought Jaces when they were low). I think I want to try to make an amalgam of Reid Duke's list (mostly his mana base) and Jim Davis' above list. Then again, I really like the simplicity of Jim's mana as well. I think that at least one Mage-Ring Network would probably be good with Secure the Wastes though, because it can let you get a "second" land drop, or substitute for a missed one.
I'll see what I can scrape some cards together to make in case our Legacy event doesn't fire.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I'm thinking of running something similar with an Ulamog or two and maybe a pair of Windrider Patrol at the top end...
Windrider Patrol is pretty embarassing when compared to Ojutai. If you are in white already I see no reason you would ever play patrol over the dragonlord even if you aren't playing scorn or any of the other dragon synergy cards.
I also feel that Ulamog is a little ambitious. Without any form of ramp in the deck just putting Ulamog in your deck and hoping to raw dog him on turn 12 or something seems loose. Mage-Ring Network definitely helps but it still seems like you would want Oblivion Sower or Hedron Archive as a way to get ahead on mana and I am not sure you really want to be playing either of those cards just to make Ulamog semi-reasonable.
On another note. How much better is Secure the Wastes than Empty the Pits? Empty fights with Dig which sucks but the effect is definitely more powerful than secure the wastes. It may just be that the format is fast enough to not allow that many cards to hit the yard so you can't delve enough to get appreciably ahead on tokens when compared to wastes. I would want to try it at least though.
I'm thinking of running something similar with an Ulamog or two and maybe a pair of Windrider Patrol at the top end...
Windrider Patrol is pretty embarassing when compared to Ojutai. If you are in white already I see no reason you would ever play patrol over the dragonlord even if you aren't playing scorn or any of the other dragon synergy cards.
I also feel that Ulamog is a little ambitious. Without any form of ramp in the deck just putting Ulamog in your deck and hoping to raw dog him on turn 12 or something seems loose. Mage-Ring Network definitely helps but it still seems like you would want Oblivion Sower or Hedron Archive as a way to get ahead on mana and I am not sure you really want to be playing either of those cards just to make Ulamog semi-reasonable.
On another note. How much better is Secure the Wastes than Empty the Pits? Empty fights with Dig which sucks but the effect is definitely more powerful than secure the wastes. It may just be that the format is fast enough to not allow that many cards to hit the yard so you can't delve enough to get appreciably ahead on tokens when compared to wastes. I would want to try it at least though.
The main difference is that Secure the Wastes is simply easier to play costing only W instead of BBBB which delve does not help you cover, along with the fact the Empty the Pits does fight with DTT over graveyard resources. Yes, empty makes stronger creatures but Secure makes an army for the same mana.
EDIT: I have my own question to pose. Why run Silkwrap over Stasis Snare? I understand that there is a difference of cost, 1W versus 1WW, but I feel the flash aspect of Snare makes it a more appealing option. Is it that the 3 CMC slot too full or that we just want more low CMC answers?
EDIT: I have my own question to pose. Why run Silkwrap over Stasis Snare? I understand that there is a difference of cost, 1W versus 1WW, but I feel the flash aspect of Snare makes it a more appealing option. Is it that the 3 CMC slot too full or that we just want more low CMC answers?
You need fast answers to Mantis Rider and Monastery Swiftspear. Being 3 mana is a real downside for removal in this format. The aggressive decks are aggressive enough that they demand cheap answers. Plus, being able to cast Silkwrap plus anotherspell on turn 4 or 5 is a big game. I also kind of think that once you go to 3 mana, you might as well go to 4 and just play Utter End instead.
I don't hate a split of some kind though. Or perhaps some Quarantine Field as well.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The devil's in the detail. BSkithiryx, the Blight DragonB GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
What makes Clash of Wills better than Calculated Dismissal or Spell Shrivel, unless it is meant purely as a late game counter? I've been out of standard for a few years so I'm getting back into the swing of card evaluation and U/B/x control is my favorite deck to play.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing:
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
What makes Clash of Wills better than Calculated Dismissal or Spell Shrivel, unless it is meant purely as a late game counter? I've been out of standard for a few years so I'm getting back into the swing of card evaluation and U/B/x control is my favorite deck to play.
Because you can counter something on turn 2.
Jim Davis:
Our counterspell suite is rather robust, as the deck sports the full playset of Clash of Wills. Clash of Wills was not a major player in the previous format because of how manabases were constructed. With so many Temples and other enter-the-battlefield-tapped lands, it was simply too difficult to keep the proper mana open for Clash of Wills for what your opponent may play while also developing your own mana.
This has completely changed, as this deck has only a scant four lands in it that enter the battlefield tapped.
Because you can so reliably cast it up the curve, Clash of Wills is a fantastic answer to most of the format's threats. Clash of Wills is the card that will bridge the gap for you to the midgame. Turn-two counterspells are so important that we even have a fifth in Horribly Awry.
Lastly, our Dissolve replacement also does a nice job as one of our win conditions as well. Scatter to the Winds is going to be a Cancel 95% of the time, and that's just fine. I've cast many Cancels in my day, and it really isn't that bad. The fact that it has extra utility is just gravy.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
What makes Clash of Wills better than Calculated Dismissal or Spell Shrivel, unless it is meant purely as a late game counter? I've been out of standard for a few years so I'm getting back into the swing of card evaluation and U/B/x control is my favorite deck to play.
Because you can counter something on turn 2.
Jim Davis:
Our counterspell suite is rather robust, as the deck sports the full playset of Clash of Wills. Clash of Wills was not a major player in the previous format because of how manabases were constructed. With so many Temples and other enter-the-battlefield-tapped lands, it was simply too difficult to keep the proper mana open for Clash of Wills for what your opponent may play while also developing your own mana.
This has completely changed, as this deck has only a scant four lands in it that enter the battlefield tapped.
Because you can so reliably cast it up the curve, Clash of Wills is a fantastic answer to most of the format's threats. Clash of Wills is the card that will bridge the gap for you to the midgame. Turn-two counterspells are so important that we even have a fifth in Horribly Awry.
Lastly, our Dissolve replacement also does a nice job as one of our win conditions as well. Scatter to the Winds is going to be a Cancel 95% of the time, and that's just fine. I've cast many Cancels in my day, and it really isn't that bad. The fact that it has extra utility is just gravy.
Many thanks. I'm slowly working on my own brew and am trying to understand card choices.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing:
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
[quote from="detail251 »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/established-standard/642160-primer-esper-control?comment=11"]
EDIT: I have my own question to pose. Why run Silkwrap over Stasis Snare? I understand that there is a difference of cost, 1W versus 1WW, but I feel the flash aspect of Snare makes it a more appealing option. Is it that the 3 CMC slot too full or that we just want more low CMC answers?
2 and 3 mana, especially double color, are very different. I do like Stasis Snare as an answer to man-lands and large haste creatures and animated Planeswalkers.
Has anyone done any further testing to Adrianne Sullivan's list? I have it built (minus the jaces in the board), and I've been having some mixed success with it. Wondering if anyone has made any changes to it post PT?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Trying to make crappy pet cards work since 2002.
I'm usually typing quickly at work or on my phone so I appolize from the crummy grammar
I saw Reid Duke's list for the first time today and am in love with it. I'm sick of tapping out every turn, and his is the first convincing "true" control deck I've seen in the new Standard. I'll probably run it at Gameday.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
If you watch Ried and Owen's Stand Super League Match I think that it is a good idea to be playing more Dispels, possibly even 4 at this point. Looking at Owen's list (which, mind you, tons of people will be copying) he only plays 2 Sorceries and a whopping 19 Instants. Frankly, the game nearly hinges on being able to shut down the opponent's Dig Through Times. Owen also plays 3 Distainful Stroke in the board, which is very good versus these Esper lists. In the end, you need to be able to win the Instant war, which is going to be rough when your opponent's counter-magic is more efficient than yours.
Also, I think that a couple Complete Disregard would be good for Ried's list. In that match, you can see that Mantis Rider is a pain, as I would imagine Hangerback is as well. I'm really interested in mashing up Jim Davis' list and Ried's.
Jim said today in his SCG article that he is very interested in adding Mage-Ring Network to his deck, which I think is a really good idea, because Secure the Wastes off only two lands can be huge.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
[quote from="detail251 »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/established-standard/642160-primer-esper-control?comment=11"]
EDIT: I have my own question to pose. Why run Silkwrap over Stasis Snare? I understand that there is a difference of cost, 1W versus 1WW, but I feel the flash aspect of Snare makes it a more appealing option. Is it that the 3 CMC slot too full or that we just want more low CMC answers?
2 and 3 mana, especially double color, are very different. I do like Stasis Snare as an answer to man-lands and large haste creatures and animated Planeswalkers.
</blockquote>
Reid's deck has a mana-curve that basically goes from 2-4. I feel this is brillinat tmepo-wise: in turn 3 you get to play a tapland and a 2mana spell, and turn 4 you almost always have lots of options (2 2-mana spells, 2-mana spell + harge mage ring, or play a 4 mana spell). This is why you might not want to overload on 3 mana spells. To deal with man lands you can use 2 mana options like gideon's reproach and swift reckoning (should be an instant most of the time), surge of righteousness (for shambling vent) and fathom feeder (it never actually remove the land, but makes them not attack most of the time, and during that time you just draw cards with the feeder). That's how i do it and i never had issues dealing with man lands.
I been messing around with the idea of esper control for a while (since theros block)and was playing esper dragon with a heavier white splash for narset and elspeth. But with the latest edition of the new Plains walker and improvement of the land base I think I give it another go. Currently the listed posted at the end is what I'm running at my local fnm. Please give me your insight and any modification and suggestion about that be great, thanks
I went to FNM and had a mied experience. I had some missplays and, due to the lack of practice with the deck (just a couple modo games) I made a lot of misplay. But my oh my did the deck look powerful! On a day when i was focused and not misplaaying i feel i could have easily gone 4-0 or 3-1.
The deck (posted below) was geared towards a heavy abzan expected meta. I went to a shop that i used to go to and hadn't been in there for a while. But before rotation everyone was playing abzan of various flavors (control, megamorph, aggro). Man how times change! Did not see a single siege rhino cast!
Game 1: vs a RG land destruction deck I've never seen before (but 2 people were running it). I drew but should have won; game 3 he was card less, board less and at 1 life, facing an Ugin and a Silumgar, but he had turn 5 and it was a draw. Basically, his deck was full of crumble to dust and reclamation vines, that are deployed early thanks to green mana dudes. I lost game 1 because i was taken by surprise, but after that it was an easy afair. Here is a misplay I did: I knew (from duress) he had atarka. I had in hand a Silumgar and an ojutai's command. I tried to bait him to play the Atarka so i could steal it and win quick, but he never did. So we played draw-go for quite a while. Looking back, if I had been concious of the time, I should have slammed the dragon, keep atarka from resolving, and just beat down 3 at a time. I got greedy trying to get full DLord value and i think this was not correct.
Game 2: vs UB aristocrats. Was tilted about my earlier draw (my philosophy is that if i am clearly beat i concede the game, and i was a bit tilted that my round 1 oponend, who was clearly beat, did not do it.) I made several missplays, most notably this: he had 2 zulaport cutthroats out, some other creatures, and a sidisi's faithfull as the only card in hand (i knew this from a previous bounce he did). I did not recall that cutthroat's powers stack so I misscounted the damage and went for a planar outburst. Thing is, I had a silkwrap and mana to wrap one curthroat +outurst. Would have kept me at 8 life with a fll grip vs an 0/4 dude. Stupid, stupid me! Lesson: don't tilt. Tilt is bad. Tilt is death!
Game 3: won 1-0 vs Esper Dragons. Looooooooonnnnnnnnggggggg game. Came down to an awesome play. I play Ugin, +2. He steals it with his silumgar, and +2 again. I play my own silumgar and (after a counter war) teal his silumgar, legend rule it to the gyard, and now i gave an 11 loyalty ugin and a silumgar. Couple turns later he is bye bye.
Game 4: lost 1-0 to esper dragons. Basically, I had him on the ropes, facing down an Ob Nixilis emblem. Problem is, I decked myself before the emblem killed him (lifelink from the vents basically kept him from dying to the emblem to quickly.) We had 5 minutes for game 2 but i was tired so i conceded and dropped the tounry (it was 5 rds)
i felt this deck was great at keeping threats in check, and the mana curve makes it so that you can quite easily answer their worst threat + ddraw cards in the same turn. Almost all games i played my oponents end up empty handed and me with a full grip and tons of mana (thanks network!) And this is specially surprinsing given how i misjudged the meta and how many dead cards i ended up having because of this I(silkwrap + awry are terrible vs esper dragons with no jaces!) This is what control should feel like: total dominion over the resources of the game. So anyone who likes control will love this deck style. But you must leanr to familiarize yourself with the deck and play quick. I made several misplays and 3/4 matches went to time. I'll try to put in more hours to find an optimal pace of play. MODO can be deceiving because shuflling takes 0 time, but in the real world the time spent shuffling really counts!
My lost at FNM was to Mardu tokens and I lost against Bring to Light in top 4 at gameday. I played against Atarka Red, Bant Megamorph, GW Megamorph and Abzan allies over the course of FNM and game day. Deck has really smooth mana and plays well versus the standard field.
I would take out the aragic arrogance and a hidden dragonslayer for a pair of Surge of Righteousness. I have used the Blighted Steppe to stabilize after a big Secure the Wastes. Deck is sweet.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
In his Deck Tech video, which I couldn't find a link to at the moment, he does say that Painful Trths was not ideal and he didn't like it much. Treasure Cruise taxes the yard too much with Jace and Dig (and Cut), so Truths was the next available option. I think the Silumgar's Command is great, flashing that back with Jace is really high-value. I also really like the second Shambling Vent, it's great to help you stabilize with the Lifelink.
I think going forward, on the "Pro level" you are going to keep seeing Reid do well with this, but not many others, the deck really fit his style, which I don't think many will want to try to emulate.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
UWB
Esper Control is about controlling the board and slamming sweet planeswalkers.
While hiding in the corners last year, Esper Control had a dominant showing at PT Battle for Zendikar as a number of pros dropped the idea of slamming dragons and picked up slamming Jaces, Gideons, and Ob Nix-daddys.
Here are some of the sweet decklists:
Those are some of the higher placing lists from the PT.
I'll let you guys discuss the cards and the reasoning behind them.
Keep in mind, if you want to talk about Esper Dragons, you can do so here. The decks in this thread are distinguished by their lack of Dragonlord Ojutai and Silumgar's Scorn in the maindeck.
This thread is for Esper Control. You can discuss below.
I do like Anteri's list though.
Twitter: twitter.com/axmanonline
Stream: twitch.tv/axman
Current Decks
Modern: Affinity
Standard: BW Control
Legacy: Death and Taxes :symw::symr:
Vintage: NA
Not all control decks are "draw-go". Tap-out walkers lists are getting classified as control for the sake of broad discussion. We need a thread to house these decks (there were enough that did well at the PT to warrant it in Est.) so this is it.
I feel like Reid's list doesn't have enough win conditions to end a game before getting ground out by various resilient threats like Hangarback Walker and Deathmist Raptor.
Card advantage is so readily available to every color these days that you need to be able to present a faster clock than turn 8 Ugin, shoot you for 3 7 turns in a row. Reid's only other ways to win a game are a pair of Arashin Cleric and a single Shambling Vent. You cannot rely on being able to have substantially more resources than every opponent.
I also like the idea of going a bit more heavily into planeswalkers these days. With Hero's Downfall gone and people being slow/reluctant to play Ruinous Path planeswalkers are the best they've been in years.
BSkithiryx, the Blight DragonB
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
Surge of Righteousness, Reave Soul, and Silkwrap are all solid options.
MODERN
BRG Jund
WU Control
UBRG Dredge
BG Elves
G Tron
Affinity
Building:
WR Boros Burn
UB Tezzerator
I also play Legacy, and EDH. Follow me at MTGPackFoils on Twitter.
I've pretty much dumped all mine in favor of jaces :/ .
I know elspeth was massively important to UW or control builds, but i feel gideon isn't quite on the same level as the previous queen of standard
been playing a dragons list but I'm willing to give straight control a try.
my concern is how do you prevent your opponent from landing a 2 drop? the absence of scorn hurts. I'm not a huge fan of horribly arry :/.
5 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Blighted Fen
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Prairie Stream
3 Sunken Hollow
4 Clash of Wills
3 Complete Disregard
4 Dig Through Time
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Horribly Awry
1 Murderous Cut
4 Ojutai's Command
4 Scatter to the Winds
2 Secure the Wastes
1 Ultimate Price
2 Utter End
2 Planar Outburst
3 Arashin Cleric
2 Monastery Mentor
2 Dispel
2 Surge of Righteousness
2 Ultimate Price
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Duress
I usually don't play Standard, but we've been struggling to fire Legacy and I happen to have most of the deck already (bought Jaces when they were low). I think I want to try to make an amalgam of Reid Duke's list (mostly his mana base) and Jim Davis' above list. Then again, I really like the simplicity of Jim's mana as well. I think that at least one Mage-Ring Network would probably be good with Secure the Wastes though, because it can let you get a "second" land drop, or substitute for a missed one.
I'll see what I can scrape some cards together to make in case our Legacy event doesn't fire.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Windrider Patrol is pretty embarassing when compared to Ojutai. If you are in white already I see no reason you would ever play patrol over the dragonlord even if you aren't playing scorn or any of the other dragon synergy cards.
I also feel that Ulamog is a little ambitious. Without any form of ramp in the deck just putting Ulamog in your deck and hoping to raw dog him on turn 12 or something seems loose. Mage-Ring Network definitely helps but it still seems like you would want Oblivion Sower or Hedron Archive as a way to get ahead on mana and I am not sure you really want to be playing either of those cards just to make Ulamog semi-reasonable.
On another note. How much better is Secure the Wastes than Empty the Pits? Empty fights with Dig which sucks but the effect is definitely more powerful than secure the wastes. It may just be that the format is fast enough to not allow that many cards to hit the yard so you can't delve enough to get appreciably ahead on tokens when compared to wastes. I would want to try it at least though.
BSkithiryx, the Blight DragonB
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
The main difference is that Secure the Wastes is simply easier to play costing only W instead of BBBB which delve does not help you cover, along with the fact the Empty the Pits does fight with DTT over graveyard resources. Yes, empty makes stronger creatures but Secure makes an army for the same mana.
EDIT: I have my own question to pose. Why run Silkwrap over Stasis Snare? I understand that there is a difference of cost, 1W versus 1WW, but I feel the flash aspect of Snare makes it a more appealing option. Is it that the 3 CMC slot too full or that we just want more low CMC answers?
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
You need fast answers to Mantis Rider and Monastery Swiftspear. Being 3 mana is a real downside for removal in this format. The aggressive decks are aggressive enough that they demand cheap answers. Plus, being able to cast Silkwrap plus another spell on turn 4 or 5 is a big game. I also kind of think that once you go to 3 mana, you might as well go to 4 and just play Utter End instead.
I don't hate a split of some kind though. Or perhaps some Quarantine Field as well.
BSkithiryx, the Blight DragonB
GAzusa, Lost but SeekingG
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
Because you can counter something on turn 2.
Jim Davis:
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Many thanks. I'm slowly working on my own brew and am trying to understand card choices.
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
2 and 3 mana, especially double color, are very different. I do like Stasis Snare as an answer to man-lands and large haste creatures and animated Planeswalkers.
I'm usually typing quickly at work or on my phone so I appolize from the crummy grammar
Also, I think that a couple Complete Disregard would be good for Ried's list. In that match, you can see that Mantis Rider is a pain, as I would imagine Hangerback is as well. I'm really interested in mashing up Jim Davis' list and Ried's.
Jim said today in his SCG article that he is very interested in adding Mage-Ring Network to his deck, which I think is a really good idea, because Secure the Wastes off only two lands can be huge.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Reid's deck has a mana-curve that basically goes from 2-4. I feel this is brillinat tmepo-wise: in turn 3 you get to play a tapland and a 2mana spell, and turn 4 you almost always have lots of options (2 2-mana spells, 2-mana spell + harge mage ring, or play a 4 mana spell). This is why you might not want to overload on 3 mana spells. To deal with man lands you can use 2 mana options like gideon's reproach and swift reckoning (should be an instant most of the time), surge of righteousness (for shambling vent) and fathom feeder (it never actually remove the land, but makes them not attack most of the time, and during that time you just draw cards with the feeder). That's how i do it and i never had issues dealing with man lands.
1x Bloodstained Mire
4x Flooded Strand
4x Polluted Delta
4x Prairie stream
4x Sunken Hollow
3x Shambling Vent
1x Mage-Ring Network
3x Island
2x Swamp
1x Plains
3x Clash of Wills
2x Scatter to the Winds
3x Ojutai’s Commands
1x silumgar's commands
1x Secure the wastes
3x Silkwrap
1x Complete Disregards
2x Ruinous Path
2x Languish
2x Utter End
1x Murderous Cut
4x Dig Throught Time
2x Gideon Ally of Zendikar
1x Ob Nixilis reignited
1x Ugin, the Spirit dragon
3x Jace Vryn’s Prodigy
1x fathom feeder
SB
1x Infinite Obliteration
1x Virulent Plague
1x Dispel
2x Negate
2x Arashin Cleric
3x Surge of righteousness
1x Dragonlord’s Prerogative
2x Dragonlord Ojutai
2x Dragonlord Simlumgar
The deck (posted below) was geared towards a heavy abzan expected meta. I went to a shop that i used to go to and hadn't been in there for a while. But before rotation everyone was playing abzan of various flavors (control, megamorph, aggro). Man how times change! Did not see a single siege rhino cast!
3 Mage-Ring Network
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Plains
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Prairie Stream
3 Sunken Hollow
1 Shambling Vent
2 Windswept Heath
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
Card Draw, and then some (17)
4 Jace, Vryn's prodigy
2 Anticipate
4 Dig through time
4 Ojutai's Command
1 Treasure Cruise
2 Ob nixilis reignited
3 silkwrap
3 Horribly Awry
3 Scatter to the winds
1 Utter End
2 Planar Outburst
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
2 disdainful stroke
2 duress
2 ultimate price
2 Gideon's reproach
2 surge of righteousness
2 Negate
2 Dispel
1 disdainful stroke
1 felidar cub
1 utter end
Game 1: vs a RG land destruction deck I've never seen before (but 2 people were running it). I drew but should have won; game 3 he was card less, board less and at 1 life, facing an Ugin and a Silumgar, but he had turn 5 and it was a draw. Basically, his deck was full of crumble to dust and reclamation vines, that are deployed early thanks to green mana dudes. I lost game 1 because i was taken by surprise, but after that it was an easy afair. Here is a misplay I did: I knew (from duress) he had atarka. I had in hand a Silumgar and an ojutai's command. I tried to bait him to play the Atarka so i could steal it and win quick, but he never did. So we played draw-go for quite a while. Looking back, if I had been concious of the time, I should have slammed the dragon, keep atarka from resolving, and just beat down 3 at a time. I got greedy trying to get full DLord value and i think this was not correct.
Game 2: vs UB aristocrats. Was tilted about my earlier draw (my philosophy is that if i am clearly beat i concede the game, and i was a bit tilted that my round 1 oponend, who was clearly beat, did not do it.) I made several missplays, most notably this: he had 2 zulaport cutthroats out, some other creatures, and a sidisi's faithfull as the only card in hand (i knew this from a previous bounce he did). I did not recall that cutthroat's powers stack so I misscounted the damage and went for a planar outburst. Thing is, I had a silkwrap and mana to wrap one curthroat +outurst. Would have kept me at 8 life with a fll grip vs an 0/4 dude. Stupid, stupid me! Lesson: don't tilt. Tilt is bad. Tilt is death!
Game 3: won 1-0 vs Esper Dragons. Looooooooonnnnnnnnggggggg game. Came down to an awesome play. I play Ugin, +2. He steals it with his silumgar, and +2 again. I play my own silumgar and (after a counter war) teal his silumgar, legend rule it to the gyard, and now i gave an 11 loyalty ugin and a silumgar. Couple turns later he is bye bye.
Game 4: lost 1-0 to esper dragons. Basically, I had him on the ropes, facing down an Ob Nixilis emblem. Problem is, I decked myself before the emblem killed him (lifelink from the vents basically kept him from dying to the emblem to quickly.) We had 5 minutes for game 2 but i was tired so i conceded and dropped the tounry (it was 5 rds)
i felt this deck was great at keeping threats in check, and the mana curve makes it so that you can quite easily answer their worst threat + ddraw cards in the same turn. Almost all games i played my oponents end up empty handed and me with a full grip and tons of mana (thanks network!) And this is specially surprinsing given how i misjudged the meta and how many dead cards i ended up having because of this I(silkwrap + awry are terrible vs esper dragons with no jaces!) This is what control should feel like: total dominion over the resources of the game. So anyone who likes control will love this deck style. But you must leanr to familiarize yourself with the deck and play quick. I made several misplays and 3/4 matches went to time. I'll try to put in more hours to find an optimal pace of play. MODO can be deceiving because shuflling takes 0 time, but in the real world the time spent shuffling really counts!
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Shambling Vent
3 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Island
1 Blighted Steppe
1 Blighted Fen
Spells
4 Anticipate
3 Ojutai's Command
3 Utter End
2 Dig Through Time
2 Complete Disregard
2 Languish
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Silkwrap
2 Ultimate Price
2 Swift Reckoning
2 Secure the Wastes
1 Painful Truths
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Narset Transcendent
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Hidden Dragonslayer
2 Dispel
2 Negate
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Infinite Obliteration
1 Tragic Arrogance
1 Silumgar's Command
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
My lost at FNM was to Mardu tokens and I lost against Bring to Light in top 4 at gameday. I played against Atarka Red, Bant Megamorph, GW Megamorph and Abzan allies over the course of FNM and game day. Deck has really smooth mana and plays well versus the standard field.
I would take out the aragic arrogance and a hidden dragonslayer for a pair of Surge of Righteousness. I have used the Blighted Steppe to stabilize after a big Secure the Wastes. Deck is sweet.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Creature (5)
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Arashin Cleric
Sorcery (3)
1 Painful Truths
2 Planar Outburst
Instant (23)
2 Ultimate Price
2 Anticipate
4 Clash of Wills
1 Negate
1 Scatter to the Winds
4 Ojutai's Command
2 Utter End
1 Silumgar's Command
2 Murderous Cut
4 Dig Through Time
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
2 Mage-Ring Network
2 Shambling Vent
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Prairie Stream
3 Sunken Hollow
3 Arashin Cleric
1 Negate
3 Surge of Righteousness
2 Duress
2 Dispel
2 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
Reid Duke made Top 8 at the GP with a few changes from his PT/SSL list. You can read what he says about the list here.
The main changes he made for the GP seem to be:
+1 Island
+1 Shambling Vent
-1 Mage-Ring Network
-1 Windswept Heath
-1 Scatter to the Winds
-1 Arashin Cleric
-1 Treasure Cruise
-1 Ultimate Price
+1 Murderous Cut
+1 Silumgar's Command
+1 Negate
+1 Painful Truths
In his Deck Tech video, which I couldn't find a link to at the moment, he does say that Painful Trths was not ideal and he didn't like it much. Treasure Cruise taxes the yard too much with Jace and Dig (and Cut), so Truths was the next available option. I think the Silumgar's Command is great, flashing that back with Jace is really high-value. I also really like the second Shambling Vent, it's great to help you stabilize with the Lifelink.
I think going forward, on the "Pro level" you are going to keep seeing Reid do well with this, but not many others, the deck really fit his style, which I don't think many will want to try to emulate.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order